A Nation Comes to a Halt

So, I know I said I'd go into the political side of things in my next post, but I feel like it would be a missed opportunity to not post about Yom Kippur and, given that everything's political, I'm vaguely keeping my word...

Yom Kippur is the holiest holiday in the Jewish calendar, a time for repentence and to try to make your peace with G-d as they're deciding how to judge you, although I've also been told that it's during Rosh Hashana that they decide that and the repentence is meant to be separate from the judgement, so I'm not sure. Either way, as someone who isn't observing any of the traditions like fasting or, erm, well, not using any manmade machinery like the internet, that's not really the point for me, although I can see the value of thinking through my actions of the past year and making peace, if not with G-d, with people.

A few years ago, Cambridge University Israel Society hosted a Tubishvat (New Year for Trees! N.B. My explanations of Jewish festivals might become more sophisticated as I learn more about them - blame my Kibbutznik father. Anyway, New Year for Trees is I think a basically good summary!) event with the Jewish Society, and I went to a talk about religion and the state. I remember a girl saying that many Israelis don't appreciate the value of being in a country where your religious observances or, if you're secular, traditions, are the norm. Coming here, the significance of this is really coming home for me. Having grown up in a Christian country, although I'm not Christian myself, it's very strange for me how much less a part of people's lives and thinking Jesus and Christianity have been for people here. I'm becoming even more aware of a desire to connect more with my Jewish heritage and be more secure in my knowledge of that: I'm surprised by how unconsciously secure in my knowledge and awareness of Christianity I am. So the point is that, whereas in England presumably people who observe the traditions of Yom Kippur have to seek out others who do in a country where they form a minority, here everything comes to a standstill, and even the more secular Israelis respect the traditions. Being unobservant, it took me a minute to notice when we went for a walk last night, but Ilana pointed out that there were no cars whatsoever, and the roads were full of children on bikes. Of course, technically bikes shouldn't be used, but they've recently been made legal, and I have to say, if the kids get to own the streets for one day a year, then I'm all for it.

So separation between religion and the state and multi-culturalism are obviously important both in principle and in practice, but it's surprising how much of an impact casual cultural norms can have: it's not until you're no longer in a historically Christian country that you realise the significance of that latent religious heritage. Now I understand much better what the aforementioned girl from the Tubishvat talk meant. At the time, as someone who's always felt on the margins of Jewish society within England, I was more interested in the point that these traditions can be exclusive and people who aren't part of them need to be respected. But then, if it's possible to have been part of a pretty strongly Christian tradition without realising it, then having the chance to experience saturation in Jewish culture and traditions can only be enriching, particularly for someone who's always felt uncomfortably cut off from them.

Post Script

Fear not, I'm not going to post every day, I'll probably limit it to once or twice a week. In terms of the aforementioned political difficulties/tensions, I'm accutely aware of a tendency I've had in the past to rush into making grand, charged political statements before I've finished thinking them through or got my head round them, so that side of things is very much a process I'm trying to keep open, but I'll update you on that process as it unfolds (and I have been known to make very well-considered, sensible and calm political statements as well :P). And I have occasionally been just going to the beach etc. and not thinking about anything too heavy, which is probably healthy once in a while, and should mean that there's something for everyone in this blog ;).